Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The 1,338-acre (541.5 ha) main academic and residential campus is 15 miles (24 km) south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the natural and social sciences, education, arts, business, health and wellness, humanities and applied technologies. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 as a normal school, specializing in teacher training and education. The university has developed from a small rural normal school into a comprehensive public research university. It is a part of the University System of Ohio and is currently classified as R2: Doctoral Universities with high research activity.

In 2019, Bowling Green offered over 200 undergraduate programs, as well as master's and doctoral degrees through eight academic colleges. BGSU had an on-campus residential student population of approximately 6,000 students and a total enrollment of over 19,000 students as of 2018^[update]. The university also maintains a satellite campus, known as BGSU Firelands, in Huron, Ohio, 60 miles (97 km) east of the main campus. Although the majority of students attend classes on BGSU's main campus, about 2,000 students attend classes at Firelands and about 600 additional students attend online. About 85% of Bowling Green's students are from Ohio.

The university hosts an extensive student life program, with over 300 student organizations. Fielding athletic teams known as Bowling Green Falcons, the university competes at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference in all sports except ice hockey, in which the university is a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

The movement for a public high learning institution in northwestern Ohio began in the late 1800s as part of the growth in public institutions during the Progressive Era to meet demands for training and professional development of teachers. During the period, people of northwestern Ohio campaigned for a school in their region to produce better quality education and educators. The movement argued that the existing universities, Ohio State University in Columbus, Miami University in Oxford and Ohio University in Athens, were distant and the region lacked a state-supported school of its own.

In 1910, the Ohio General Assembly passed the Lowry Normal School Bill that authorized Governor Judson Harmon to appoint the Commission on Normal School Sites to survey forty communities for two sites for normal schools, one in northeastern Ohio and one in northwestern Ohio. The commission examined population within a 25-mile (40.2 km) radius of each community, along with railroad and transportation infrastructure, the moral atmosphere, health and sanitary conditions and site suitability.

Bowling Green offered four possible sites and became one of four finalists including Fremont, Napoleon, and Van Wert. Despite the town being the home of John Lowry, Napoleon was ruled out because the commission found it had numerous saloons. Fremont was eliminated mainly due to the specific stipulations imposed by the President Rutherford B. Hayes Memorial Commission. Bowling Green was chosen on November 10, 1910, over Van Wert in a 3–2 vote by the commission. The site located on 82.5 acres (0.334 km²) of primarily rural land and a small town park, nearby railroad and transportation infrastructure, its central location in the region, and Bowling Green's dry status were major factors that the town was chosen by the commission. At the same time, the commission chose Kent for a school in Northeastern Ohio. Over the years 1911 and 1912, the board of trustees was appointed by the Governor and elected a school president on February 16, 1912. A campus plan was created and $150,000 was appropriated to develop the campus and construct the first buildings.

The school opened on September 15, 1914, as Bowling Green State Normal School in two temporary locations at the Bowling Green Armory and at a branch school in Toledo for the 1914–1915 academic year. The first honorary organization of the college, the Book and Motor was conceived around this time. It initially enrolled 304 students from Ohio, Michigan, and New York who were taught by 21 faculty members. The school graduated its first class in 1915, consisting of 35 certified teachers. University Hall and Williams Hall opened that year, the school's first two permanent buildings. Two years later the first baccalaureate degrees for teacher education were awarded. The university began to invite notable guests to campus during the 1917–1918 semester, including the Zoellner Quartet, and the Ben Greet Shakespearean Players.

On March 28, 1920, a tornado, part of the 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, damaged three of the school's buildings. The tornado touched down near Bowling Green and strengthened as it moved into Ottawa County where it killed two people in Genoa.